MY BOOKISH MEME

Like the guy who originated this a couple of journals over, I don't do tags. Actually I'm not sure enough people show up regularly to tag five people, that and one of the gals I'd be tagging is spending most of her time reading order sheets and menus these days and I've never seen a menu with 123 pages. So,

First you grab the nearest book. Well, I have this little "nest" around my chair. And there are at least two dozen books ranging from Celtic spirituality to American history,  but I'll go with the ones I was working with Saturday morning. With the changes to the yard I was paging through several books looking for ideas. One of them was

 a really nice book but I ran into problems with the next instruction which is to go to page 123. Page 123 of this one has a beautiful shot of an elaborate entrance to a very formal garden. I was also working with

. Nice book, but page 123 waxes poetic on the joys of using sweet potato vines in a shade tolerant garden. Rather than fudge and go with the impatiens, I went with this one.

Of course all the best stuff on that page is in the first five sentences. Bummer, because you start with the next four. Which starts prosaically enough with the joys of parsley.

 "You also have plenty of parsley this time of year; it stays green late into fall before dying back. If you mulch it thickly, it may last long enough for you to use it for holiday feasts. Meanwhile, in cold climates, herbaceous perrenials begin to grow more slowly; they start to transport vital nutrients to their underground roots so they can lay low when it gets cold. Woody herbs are hardening their new growth in preparation for weathering winter cold."

On the whole I'd rather have gone with but fair's fair. I haven't touched this one in a month or so. and the last instruction is to:  "Don't you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet. I know that is what you were thinking!" So, go for it folks. And if you do the tagging thing, you tag five people you think will have a blast working with this. I got a kick out of it.

Seriously, We're going to be reading a lot of gardening books this winter to get ready for spring. I got a lot to learn about herbs if I'm going to start doing an herb garden that's not only kitchen centered but with a touch of the Goddess.